Electrifying Illustrated News: Zheng Zhengqiu and the
Transformation of Graphic Arts Into Dramatic Cinema,
1910–1935
Li-Lin Tseng
Twentieth-Century China, Volume 41, Number 1, January 2016, pp. 2-28
(Article)
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2016.0001
For additional information about this article
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/641439
Accessed 15 Jun 2017 15:51 GMT
Twentieth-Century China, 41. 1, 2–28, January 2016
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS: ZHENG
ZHENGQIU AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF
GRAPHIC ARTS INTO DRAMATIC CINEMA,
1910–1935
LI-LIN TSENG
Pittsburg State University, USA
A pivotal figure in the birth of Chinese cinema, Zheng Zhengqiu (鄭正秋 1889–
1935) established an art of dramatic film integral to the creation of early Chinese
motion pictures. His style incorporated unique cross-media perspectives, producing
theatrical works fundamentally grounded in his experiences in graphic arts (illustrated news) and theater. This article focuses on crucial links between Zheng’s
films and his work for various illustrated newspapers, as well as between his stage
plays and his own experience of family life. The author offers new approaches to
and interpretations of Zheng’s art, analyzing his emotional modes of narrative
and provocative forms of engagement. These artistic traits are rarely discussed in
contemporary scholarship on his contributions to Chinese cinema. Emerging
during the 1911 Revolution, Zheng’s sensational style of drama aimed to foster
broad social and cultural reforms. For Zheng, art was never for art’s sake alone;
instead, art was always in the service of society.
KEYWORDS: Zheng Zhengqiu, early Chinese cinema, illustrated news, theater
Of the members of the first generation of Chinese filmmakers, Zheng Zhengqiu (鄭
正秋 1889–1935) was among the most influential; his historical position parallels
D.W. Griffith’s in American film history. A scriptwriter, stage actor, and director,
Zheng has been considered by many scholars to be the “father of Chinese
cinema.”1 In 1913, Zheng and his partner, Zhang Shichuan (張石川 1890–1954),
produced the first Chinese narrative film, A Couple in Trouble (難夫難妻 Nanfu
nanqi). In 1922, Zheng, Zhang, and three of their friends cofounded the Mingxing
Film Company (明星影片公司 Mingxing yingpian gongsi), one of the three major
film companies in Shanghai prior to World War II.2 Between 1922 and 1937, this
prolific company dominated the Chinese film market, producing at least 175 films
1
Tan Chunfa, Kai yidai xianhe: Zhongguo dianying zhi fu Zheng Zhengqiu (Breaking a new
path—the father of Chinese cinema, Zheng Zhengqiu) (Beijing: Guoji wenhua chuban gongsi,
1992).
2
The other three shareholders were Zhou Jianyun, Zheng Zhegu, and Ren Jinping.
© Twentieth-Century China 2016
DOI 10.1080/15215385.2016.1108704
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
3
and introducing various genres, such as family drama and martial-arts movies.3 The
18 episodes of its martial-arts serial Burning the Red Lotus Temple (火燒紅蓮寺
Huoshao hongliansi) appeared continuously in theaters from 1928 to 1931, a
record unmatched in the history of Chinese cinema. The company also partnered
with the French Pathé Company to produce the first Chinese sound film, Singsong
Girl Red Peony (歌女紅牡丹 Genü hongmudan; 1931). In addition to running the
film company, Zheng served as the director of the Mingxing Acting School
(1922–1924). Later, as a filmmaker, he also trained many famous actors and
actresses, including Hu Die (胡蝶 1908–1989) and Ruan Lingyu (阮玲玉 1910–
1935).4 By the early 1930s, many leading figures among the second generation of
directors—such as Cai Chusheng (蔡楚生 1906–1968), Shen Xiling (沈西苓
1904–1940), Hong Shen (洪深 1894–1955), Cheng Bugao (程步高 1898–1966),
and Bu Wancang (卜萬蒼 1903–1974)—had worked under Zheng’s guidance. In
1935, Zheng’s renowned work Twin Sisters (姊妹花 Zimeihua) was screened in
Moscow, Paris, and Berlin, exposing audiences in those cities to Chinese culture.
Zheng was a pivotal figure in the birth of Chinese cinema.
This article traces the evolution of Zheng’s cinematic art from a cross-media perspective through analysis of his personal relationships with Shanghai contemporaries between 1910 and 1935. Specifically, I examine crucial links between
Zheng’s films and his work for various illustrated newspapers, as well as between
his stage plays and his own experience of family life. I also analyze Zheng’s characterization of Chinese women, an integral part of his oeuvre. Another point of investigation centers on Zheng’s relationship with a group of progressive journalists and
artists (notably revolutionary newspapermen, editorial writers, popular illustrators,
playwrights, and film directors), in order to evaluate how their intellectual
exchanges might have inspired Zheng’s art. I argue that Zheng incorporated ideas
that originated in graphic arts (illustrated news) and theater into the new medium
of cinema in novel and unexpected ways. His use of cinematic language, artistic
strategies, modes of production, and forms of engagement are rarely discussed in
contemporary scholarship on his contributions to early Chinese cinema.5
The lack of critical analysis of Zheng’s cinematic form is due perhaps to the unavailability of his films. Although Zheng produced at least 23 films, wrote 40 screenplays, directed 30 films, and acted in more than 50 stage dramas and films, most of
his cinematic works do not survive.6 Only three films are extant: Laborer’s Love
3
See Appendix 1 in Huang Xuelei, Shanghai Filmmaking: Crossing Borders, Connecting to
the Globe, 1922–1938 (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 283–315.
4
Cai Chusheng, “Jinian Zheng Zhengqiu xiansheng” (In memory of Mr. Zheng Zhengqiu), in
Cai Chusheng xuanji (Anthology of Cai Chusheng) (Beijing: Zhongguo dianying, 1988), 403.
5
See Li Daoxin’s “The Culture Spirits in Zheng Zhengqiu’s Movies,” Yang Yuanying’s “The
Ethic Mode in Zheng Zhengqiu’s Movies,” and Shi Chuan’s “Zheng Zhengqiu’s Movies: The Forepart of Chinese Popular Culture Products,” Contemporary Cinema 119, no. 2 (March 15, 2004),
17–25, 26–28, and 29–34. These scholars focus on Zheng’s films in relation to popular culture,
rather than on Zheng’s cinematic art.
6
These numbers are based on a careful count of references in several primary sources, in particular the magazines published by the Mingxing Film Company under various names, including
Mingxing Magazine (Mingxing zazhi) and Mingxing Monthly (Mingxing yueke), as well as The
Chinese Film Almanac: 1934 (Photocopy) (Zhongguo dianying nianjian: 1934 yingyinben)
(Beijing: China Radio & Television Publishing House, 2008).
4
LI-LIN TSENG
(勞工之愛情 Laogong zhi aiqing; 1922); Twin Sisters (1933); and Story of Hu Ying
(胡瑛的故事 Huying de gushi; 1934).7
ZHENG ZHENGQIU: HIS FAMILY AND HIS EDUCATION
Born in 1889 in Shanghai, Zheng was adopted into the family of a wealthy opium
dealer from Chaozhou (潮州), Guangdong.8 It is unclear at what age he was
adopted, but at the age of seven Zheng was sent to the family’s hometown. His
grandfather, Zheng Jiechen (鄭介臣 dates unknown), was a successful opium merchant who had moved to Shanghai after the Second Opium War (1856–1860).
His father, Zheng Rangqing (鄭讓卿 dates unknown), who was the second son of
Zheng Jiechen, held an official position under the Qing. In line with their contemporaries, the Zheng family initially hired private tutors in their hometown to teach
Zheng Zhengqiu the Chinese classics—The Three-Character Classic (三字經 Sanzijing) and The Analects (論語 Lunyu)—in the hope that he would pass the civilservice examination and obtain official rank in the Qing government. After two
years of tutoring, he returned to Shanghai and, between 1899 and 1903, he
studied at the newly established Shanghai Yucai Middle School (育才公學 Yucai
gongxue) founded by Jewish philanthropist Sir Ellis Kadoorie (1865–1922). The
school provided a new form of education, regularly introducing Western-style
drama and presenting plays critical of current politics, including The Eight National
Allies (八國聯軍 Baguo lianjun) about the foreign military intervention to suppress
the Boxer uprising. Zheng dropped out of high school at the age of 14, though, in
part due to his increasingly frail condition. He was addicted to opium.
Overall, Zheng was a self-taught filmmaker who learned arts, drama, and film
production all from his work experience. According to his lifelong friend and
business partner, Zhou Jianyun (周劍雲 1893–1967), Zheng gained knowledge
chiefly from newly published books, magazines, and newspapers, as well as
through conversations with a variety of friends and colleagues, including revolutionaries, newspapermen, editorial writers, painters, playwrights, and filmmakers.9
7
Zheng wrote the screenplay and took a role in the silent film Laborer’s Love. He both wrote
and directed Twin Sisters and Story of Hu Ying (one of eight short films in a collaborative work,
Nüerjing (Classic for Girls; 1934). Most of Zheng’s films were destroyed when Japanese troops
bombed Shanghai on August 13, 1937, and the main studio of the Mingxing Film Company
burned. On July 13, 1939, Japanese troops once more burned the company, including its film
storage facility. See Shenbao (Shanghai news) for that day. Between 1925 and 1937, Mingxing
yuekan (Mingxing monthly) published about 12 screenplays by Zheng. In 1996, the Beijing Film
Archive published three volumes of Zhongguo wusheng dianying juben (Chinese silent film screenplays), which included 28 film scripts by Zheng and offers the most complete literary reference for a
researcher. Most of Zheng’s writings—including opera criticism, plays, novels, popular songs, and
film essays, which were printed in many professional film magazines and Shanghai newspapers—
are scattered among various film archives and libraries in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the
United States.
8
Zhou Jianyun, “Huai Zhengqiu xiong” (In Memory of Brother Zhengqiu), in Mingxing
banyuekan (Mingxing semi-monthly) 6, no. 2 (August 1, 1936). See also Zhou Jianyun’s “Zheng
Zhengqiu xiaozhuan” (A little biography of Zheng Zhengqiu), Mingxing tekan (Mingxing
special edition), no. 3 (July 27, 1925), 2.
9
Zhou, “Huai Zhengqiu xiong.”
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
5
ZHENG ZHENGQIU AND SHANGHAI’S REVOLUTIONARY ILLUSTRATED
NEWSPAPERS
Zheng’s professional development began between 1910 and 1914 when he worked
for several illustrated newspapers in Shanghai, in particular Minlibao (民立報
People’s independence newspaper). This experience formed the foundation on
which he built his art and drama. The 1911 Revolution was a milestone in
modern Chinese history; the year 1911 also saw a turning point in Zheng’s artistic
development. He decided to abandon his family business completely and pursue his
interest in drama. Zheng took a position as editor, reporter, and drama critic at Minli
huabao (民立畫報 People’s independence illustrated newspaper), a supplement to
Minlibao. Shanghai’s Minlibao was a radical newspaper backed by a number of
Chinese industrialists, notably Shen Manyun (沈縵雲 1869–1915) and Zhang Jingjiang (張靜江 1877–1950), who were members of the Tongmenghui (同盟會
Chinese Revolutionary Alliance; 1905–1913). One year earlier, Zheng had begun
contributing to the newspaper as a freelance drama critic, introducing new plays
and commenting on the performances of Beijing opera singers. When his reviews
proved quite popular, the founder of Minlibao, Yu Youren (于佑任 1879–1964),
offered Zheng a full-time position.
Yu Youren managed to run Minlibao for three years (1910–1913), publishing
1,036 issues that publicized the revolutionary aims of the Tongmenghui and
served as the most powerful mouthpiece of Sun Yat-sen.10 Zheng Zhengqiu’s colleagues at Minlibao included such noted writers and reporters as Song Jiaoren (宋
教仁 1882–1913), Zhang Shizhao (章士釗 1881–1973), Ma Junwu (馬君武
1881–1940), and Xu Xueer (徐血兒 1891–1915). Minlibao also published provocative articles by many Tongmenghui members, notably Dai Jitao (戴季陶 1891–1949)
and Jiang Kanghu (江亢虎 1883–1954). Most of the Minli revolutionaries and intellectuals represented a new type of Chinese intellectual who had studied overseas,
appreciated the values of Western civilization, and considered Confucianism
feudalistic.
In 1910, these Minli intellectuals were looking for unconventional art forms (e.g.,
popular novels, graphic arts, and dramas) with which to publicize their revolutionary goals. Zheng’s talent in drama fit well with the objective of the newspaper. In the
section on arts and literature, Zheng playfully adopted a penname, Lili (麗麗),
employed in two of his early columns, Lili’s Casual Jottings on Drama (麗麗所戲
言 Lili suo xiyan) and Lili’s Criticism on Opera Singers (麗麗所伶評 Lili suo lingping). In the first column, Zheng discussed the history and nature of drama; in
the second, he reviewed the artistry of select opera singers.11 In 1911, Zheng’s editorial position at the Minli huabao allowed him to work closely with Tongmenghui
leaders. He regularly reported on the cultural and commercial activities of the industrialists Shen Manyun and Zhang Jingjiang and gave extensive coverage to Song
Jiaoren’s stirring speeches attacking the Qing authorities.
Even though Zheng never joined the Tongmenghui, he greatly appreciated the political views of Sun Yat-sen and Song Jiaoren, especially their support for civil rights
10
See Minlibao, November 10, 1910 through September 4, 1913.
Zheng’s drama criticism, Lili’s Criticism on Opera Singers, first appeared in Minli huabao
in 1910, and it was then serialized.
11
6
LI-LIN TSENG
for the people (主權在民 zhuquan zaimin).12 In fact, passion for Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary vision was a recurring theme in Zheng’s artistic oeuvre. When Sun died in
1925, Zheng wrote a stage play, The Death of Sun Zhongshan (孫中山之死 Sun
Zhongshan zhi si), to honor the revolutionary leader. He himself played the part
of his hero, Sun.13 In many of his writings, Zheng restated the importance of
Sun’s Three Principles of the People (三民主義 Sanmin zhuyi).14 Zheng believed
that the theory, put into practice, would transform the social system in China
after the revolution.
In 1913, the Tongmenghui was reorganized into the Nationalist Party (國民黨
Guomindang) and competed in elections under the new Republic of China.
Zheng’s colleague Song Jiaoren, expected to become prime minister, was assassinated, however. When Zheng heard about the assassination, he felt a deep sense
of loss. Five years later, Zheng wrote a stage play, Lamentation for Taoyuan (桃
源痛 Taoyuantong; 1918), in memory of Song, who had used the name of his birthplace, Taoyuan, as a penname. Three years before Zheng’s own death, he made the
film Flowers of Freedom (自由之花 Ziyou zhihua; 1932), about the Second Revolution that Sun Yat-sen and other Nationalist Party leaders had launched after the
killing of Song. Mourning the failure of the Second Revolution, Zheng’s film calls
on a new generation to complete the revolutionary task to which Sun Yat-sen and
Song Jiaoren had been devoted.
THE VOGUE OF ILLUSTRATED NEWS: MINLI HUABAO
HUABAO
VS.
DIANSHIZHAI
During his appointment at Minli huabao (1911–1912), Zheng improved his knowledge of graphic arts and drama, which prepared him for a career in stage and film
directing during the following two decades. Although Zheng was neither the first
nor the only editor who introduced illustrated newspapers to Shanghai readers, he
was one of the very first filmmakers who recognized the performative power of
graphic arts and integrated it into drama. The structure of Minli huabao much
resembled the famed Dianshizhai huabao (點石齋畫報 Dianshizhai illustrated
news). Dianshizhai first appeared in China in 1884, five years before Zheng was
born. Ernest Major, the British publisher of the paper, introduced Shanghai
readers to this novel form of lithographic printing that had come into vogue in
the London Illustrated Newspaper.15 Zheng was quite familiar with the graphic
work that Major had fashioned and popularized.
The content of Minli huabao differed from that of Dianshizhai in important ways.
At Minli huabao, themes pertaining to sociopolitical corruption were used as a way
to bring down the Qing government and to justify the revolution. Zheng’s presentation of illustrated news aimed to arouse in the viewer a sense of indignation.
Zhou, “Huai Zhengqiu xiong.”
Cai, “Jinian Zheng Zhengqiu xiansheng,” 406.
14
Zheng Zhengqiu, “Hezuo de dabenying” (The general headquarters for collaboration), in
Chen Jingliang et al., eds., Zhongguo wusheng dianying (China’s silent film) (Beijing: China Film
Archive, 1996), 113.
15
Rudolf Wagner, “Joining the Global Imaginaire: The Shanghai Illustrated Newspaper Dianshizhai huabao,” Zhongguo xueshu 8 (April, 2001): 18. Dianshizhai huabao ran from May 8,
1884, to August 16, 1898, with over 4,000 illustrations and 528 issues in total.
12
13
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
7
Observing Shanghai as a Westerner, however, Major had his illustrators
feature metropolitan life, world events, and new science and technology. The
noted writer Yu Qiuyu (余秋雨) praised such images, calling them “the eyes of
Shanghai” (上海的眼睛 Shanghai de yanjing), meaning that the pictures provided
a window onto the city.16 In contrast to Minli huabao, Dianshizhai did not introduce the theme of political revolution. Dianshizhai featured the new urban
popular culture that emerged in the foreign settlements of the city, highlighting
local fascination with and anxiety about the rapid changes in an increasingly cosmopolitan society.17 Dianshizhai graphically portrayed the clash between China and
the West.18
The readerships of Minli huabao and Dianshizhai differed somewhat, as well.
Zheng and his illustrators targeted concerned citizens, while Major aimed to
introduce international knowledge to a bourgeois readership.19 The memoir of
famed writer Su Xuelin (蘇雪林 1897–1999), “My Experiences Before and After
the Xinhai Revolution” (辛亥革命前後的我 “Xinhai geming qianhou de wo”),
offers a rare first-person account of Zheng’s audience. She and her family
members had mixed feelings about Minlibao.20 Su’s prominent family lived in
Anhui Province, west of Shanghai. Her grandfather was a loyal, conservative
Qing magistrate; he was deeply disturbed by the radical speeches of the Minli intellectuals. Su’s uncles and brothers, however, supported revolution and anticipated the
establishment of the Republic of China. While studying in Japan, Su Xuelin’s uncles
had become aware of Sun Yat-sen’s political theory through Minbao (民報; 1905–
1910), the Tokyo-based predecessor of Minlibao. After returning to China, these
young men were excited about the news concerning revolutionary affairs printed
in Minlibao. As a teenager, Su Xuelin herself had read and collected a number of
Minli huabao, gaining knowledge about the 1911 Revolution and the situations
that were causing uprisings.
The Minli huabao readers’ passion for revolution certainly distinguished them
from Dianshizhai readers. The radical views of the Minli huabao and Minlibao
newspapermen profoundly shaped Zheng’s perceptions and conceptions of the
troubled reality, awakening his sociopolitical consciousness. Zheng’s position at
Minli huabao and his interactions with the intellectuals provided him with a stimulating environment in which to develop his mature dramatic style, paving the way
for the evolution of his cinematic art.
Yu Qiuyu, “Dianshizhai huabao: Shanghai wenhua de qidian” (Dianshizhai huabao: the
beginning of Shanghai culture), Xinming wanbao (Xinming evening newspaper), August 23,
2001. The article served as a preface for the new edition of Dianshizhai huabao daketangba (Shanghai: Shanghai tuhua chubanshe, 2001).
17
Xiaoqing Ye, The Dianshizhai Pictorial: Shanghai Urban Life, 1884–1898 (Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies, 2003).
18
Li Xiaoti [Li Hsiao-t’i], “Zouxiang shijie haishi yongbao xiangye—guankan Dianshizhai
huabao de butong shiye” (Going to the world or embracing the countryside—a different view of
Dianshizhai huabao), Zhongguo xueshu (March 2002): 287.
19
Wagner, "Joining the Global Imaginaire,” 31.
20
Su Xuelin, “Xinhai geming qianhou de wo” (My experiences before and after the Xinhai
Revolution), in Su Xuelin quanji (Anthology of Su Xuelin) (Tainan: National Chenggong University
Press, 1999).
16
8
LI-LIN TSENG
MINLI HUABAO: ILLUSTRATING NEWS WITH IMPULSE AND SENSATION
In addition to forming personal relationships with the Minli revolutionaries, during
his tenure at Minlibao (1911–1912) Zheng Zhengqiu joined his colleagues in commenting on significant current events, his writings sharing the pages with reports on
the fall of Korea, for example, and the uprising in Guangdong in the years before
and after the 1911 Revolution.21 Most of his work focused on the culture of corruption in the Qing government and the turmoil of the 1911 Revolution. At Minli
huabao, Zheng worked mainly with three notable illustrators: Qian Binghe (錢病
鶴 1879–1944), Wang Qiyun (汪綺雲 dates unknown), and Zhang Yuguang (張
聿光 1885–1968). Since 1909, these illustrators had worked for Minhubao (民呼
報) and Minxubao (民吁報), the forerunners of Minlibao. At Minlibao, often,
Zheng wrote the text, and the three artists took turns illustrating his stories.22 At
times, the illustrators wrote their own text. In addition to publishing the work of
these three illustrators, the newspaper also accepted submissions from freelance
illustrators and enthusiastic readers.
Zheng Zhengqiu published many gory images about local tragedies in order to
produce a shocking effect. By so doing, he wished to highlight injustice under the
Qing and justify the revolution. “The Sad Case of a Little Boy Burned Alive” (活
焚小兒之慘狀 “Huofen xiaoer zhi canzhuang”; Figure 1) is an example of this
type of illustrated news.23 The panel consists of text and image, which work together
to create an intense narrative. The succinct text describes the inhumane incident as
follows. In a remote area in the village of Changchun (長春), six members of the Lin
Laosan (藺老三) family had died from a plague, leaving only a three-year-old boy
squalling in one of the rooms. When the village patrol entered the house, they
found the boy still clinging to the body of his deceased father. The district officer,
Wang Yonghou (王永侯), commanded his policemen to seize the boy, take him outdoors, and kill him. He also ordered his colleagues to burn the boy, together with his
lifeless family members. The next-door neighbors witnessed the scene and all sighed,
“How tragic!”
For this panel, Zheng assigned Qian Binghe to illustrate the text, highlighting the
drama of the event. The accompanying picture portrays the most disturbing moment
of the incident. Two policemen brutally carry the little boy from the house. Together,
the officers hold the boy up in the sky, as if performing a ritual sacrifice for the sake
of the public. The terrified boy desperately struggles, twisting his arms and legs in the
air. At the far left of the picture, a group of villagers silently observe the atrocity. No
one takes any action to stop the policemen’s violence. They stand submissively
behind the third policeman, who is guarding the crowd with a long sword
buckled at his waist.
An illustrated news report such as this presents a powerful, self-contained drama
intended to arouse the reader’s sensibilities. The concise text is transformed into a
sensational picture. The graphic work primarily focuses on the tensions among
the characters, their dramatic actions, and body movements meant to evoke the
21
Zheng worked at Minlibao from November 26, 1910, to April 21, 1912.
I carefully compared the calligraphy of Zheng’s drama columns with that in the illustrations and found that the handwriting does not always match.
23
Minli huabao, April 26, 1911.
22
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
Figure 1.
9
“The Sad Case of a Little Boy Burned Alive,” Minli huabao, April 26, 1911.
viewer’s compassion. As the editor of the illustrated news, Zheng Zhengqiu directed
and organized the textual and visual representations into a unified drama, the theatricality of which provoked from the reader a sense of indignation at gross injustice.
Although Zheng avoided direct criticism of the local government’s mismanagement
of the case, his integration of the text with the image does create a compelling narrative of the officers’ malice and betrayal of the public. The emotional drama in the
illustration contains a critical sociopolitical commentary. In the picture, the bystanders’ silence contributes to the crime that the government is committing. However,
the neighbors’ passivity also reflects the uncertain feelings that prevailed in society
on the verge of the revolution.
Another illustrated news report, “A Disaster Victim Consuming a Corpse” (有一
哀鴻吃死人 “You yi aihong chi siren”), has similar dramatic flair (Figure 2). The text
describes the devastation resulting from floods that had struck Province E (鄂;
another name for Hubei) two years earlier. The natural disaster was particularly
10
LI-LIN TSENG
Figure 2.
“A Disaster Victim Consuming a Corpse,” Minli huabao, April 8, 1911.
serious in Mianyang (沔陽) Prefecture. In spite of a subsequent bumper harvest of
grain elsewhere in the province, a year later Mianyang was still suffering from
high water, and conditions were not suitable for planting. Millions of victims in
the prefecture were enduring the effects of cold and hunger. Among those victims
of the lingering shortages, the account went on to note, was Liu Yunting (劉雲
亭), whose son starved to death. Upon seeing the corpse of his nephew, Liu’s
brother Huating (劉華亭), maddened with hunger, dragged the corpse to a
kitchen, cut it into pieces, and cooked and ate it. A neighbor who witnessed the
scene informed the boy’s father. Liu then tied up his brother and sent him to the
patriarch of the clan for punishment.24 The image shows the uncle chopping off
the arms of his nephew, who is lying dead on the kitchen floor. On the far right
sits a wok with boiling water in it. The neighbor stands outside looking through a
window, watching the brutal scene. The sensational image again conveys a disconcerting message that reminds the viewer of the loss of humanity in hard times.
Through the illustrated news, Zheng created shocking effects with such theatrical
strategies—notably the drastic mode of narrative, the provocative form of
24
Minli huabao, April 8, 1911.
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
11
engagement, and the emotional identification demanded from his audience, which
later would become the artistic traits of his cinema.
In Minli huabao, Zheng Zhengqiu used such graphic work to spread the political
message of the revolution and capture the spirit of a disturbed time.25 Zheng sought
to use emotional drama to awaken his audience, to revive the impulse to human feelings, and to encourage his readers to engage with the troubled reality.26
ZHENG’S PORTRAYAL OF CHINESE WOMEN, FROM ILLUSTRATIONS TO STAGE
PLAYS AND FILMS
In addition to the failures of the Qing government, Zheng Zhengqiu’s work for Minli
huabao presented the dilemmas of Chinese women, highlighting their life-and-death
struggles at the end of the dynasty. The portraits of Chinese women Zheng included
in the illustrated newspaper served as prototypes for the heroines whose characters
were further developed in many of his plays throughout the 1910s and in the films he
made during the 1920s.
The staff of the Minlibao intensively debated the role of women in building a
strong nation. At the turn of the twentieth century, most cultural reformers believed
that a strong nation needed strong women.27 At that time, about 80% of Chinese
women were illiterate. Many were only given informal names—their identities
came solely from their connection to males in their families.28 Some leading articles
printed in the paper thus focused on women’s social status and education. An editorial essay attacked the belief common among Confucians at the time that “a
woman’s lack of talent is a virtue” (女子無才便是德 nüzi wucai bianshi de).29
Arguing from the rallying point of national independence, the editor argued that
the lack of skills and proper education of women would actually hinder the
nation’s progress. In “The Stage for Female Citizens” (女國民之舞臺 “Nüguomin
zhi wutai”), Xu Xueer concluded that the underdevelopment of women’s rights
had led to the decline of the Chinese race.30 These Minli editors encouraged
Chinese women to participate actively in public affairs and revolution. In support
of Minlibao’s position on gender politics, Zheng Zhengqiu and his illustrators regularly spotlighted the harshness and tragedies of Chinese women’s lives.
A series of essays by Jiang Kanghu in Minlibao offered a systematic analysis of the
current status of Chinese women in relation to women’s rights (女權 nüquan) that
resonated with Zheng’s portrayal of women in the illustrated news.31 Jiang attacked
25
In addition to Minlibao, Zheng also edited the illustrated news for another revolutionary
newspaper, Minquanbao (People’s rights newspaper; 1912–1914). See Minquanbao, April 1,
1912 through October 21, 1912.
26
Li Zhi, “Zheng Zhengqiu,” in Zhongguo dianyingjia liezhuan (Biographies of Chinese filmmakers) (Beijing: China Film Publishing House, 1982), 207.
27
Wang Zheng, introduction to Women in the Chinese Enlightenment: Oral and Textual Histories (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 14.
28
Bao Tianxiao, Chuanyinglou huiyilu (Memoirs of the Chuanying House) (Taipei: Longwen
chubanshe, 1990).
29
“Dongxi nanbei,” Minlibao, October 11, 1911.
30
Xu Xueer, “Nüguomin zhi wutai” (The stage for female citizens), Minlibao, November 16,
1911.
31
The series—which appeared between June 5 and 11, 1911—was produced by the Minli
editors based on public talks Jiang gave at universities in Zhejiang Province.
12
LI-LIN TSENG
Confucian patriarchy for suppressing women’s individuality.32 He focused on the
Confucian doctrine of the “three obediences” (三從 sancong), which required
women to obey their fathers, their husbands, and their sons during the three
stages of their lives as maidens, married women, and widows.33 Jiang believed
that, in the name of “the family,” the patriarchal system extinguished women’s personalities and identities.34 The doctrine, he wrote, affirmed feudal oppression and
repressed the rights of women.35
On April 16, 1911, in Minli huabao, Zheng Zhengqiu published two graphic
works, “A Banner Officer’s Mistreatment of His Daughter-in-Law is Hateful,
Parts I and II” (旗員虐待子媳之可惡, 一, 二 “Qiyuan nüedai zixi zhi kewu, yi, er”;
Figure 3). The theme paralleled Jiang’s critique of the patriarchal system, especially
the first rule of women’s obedience, their subservience to their fathers.36 In the illustration, Zheng’s text describes how an old couple mistreated their daughter-in-law
after her husband’s death, for no reason other than that they could, since he was
not there to protect her. The picture on the right depicts a patriarchal ritual in
which the young widow kneels down on the ground and raises her hand to beg
for parental forgiveness. Her father-in-law sits in a chair, looking down at her in a
stately way. Her mother-in-law stands next to the man, leveling a reproach at the
widow with a gesture of her hand. The picture on the left further demonstrates
the great power of parental authority, showing a violent moment when the father
uses a hookah to hit the widow’s uncle, whose head is visibly bleeding. The text
explains that the uncle has irritated his niece’s in-laws because he has kindly
offered to take her to visit her parents. The graphic works reveal the violence
within the family. Also, given that such abuse was probably just as common in
Han families as it was in Banner families, it seems probable that Zheng strategically
highlighted bad behavior in a “Banner family” as a way to undermine Qing rule.
Zheng Zhengqiu’s illustrated news reports also called attention to the topic of
unjust marital rules, the focus of Jiang Kanghu’s critique of the principle that
women must obey their husbands. On April 14, 1911, Zheng published a disturbing
image depicting a female student who had hanged herself from the ceiling of her
room (Figure 4). The text says that the student died for love. The girl had eloped
with her college teacher, but they were caught by the police. Her lover was put in
jail; her fiancé (probably chosen by her father) broke off his engagement with her.
She thought that she had disgraced her family. The humiliation piled on top of
intense social pressures led her to attempt suicide.
32
Jiang was educated in the United States, where he came to admire the social system of the
West, in which women were permitted to receive higher educations and to establish their own
careers. Between 1905 and 1910, he founded four girls’ schools in Beijing. In spring 1911, he
started to practice his anarchist idea of “absolute equalitarianism,” expounding the doctrine of
equal political, economic, and legal rights for all citizens, especially for women and all other
deprived social groups. Jiang Kanghu, “Wujiating zhuyi yijianshu” (In support of un-familism),
in Wu Zhihui, ed., Xinshiji (The new century) (Paris: 1910). Also see Michael Gasster, Chinese
Intellectuals and the Revolution of 1911: The Birth of Modern Chinese Radicalism (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1969).
33
Jiang Kanghu, “Zhonggao nütongbao” (Advising countrywomen), Minlibao, June 5, 1911.
34
Jiang, “Zhonggao nütongbao,” Minlibao, June 8, 1911.
35
Jiang, “Zhonggao nütongbao,” Minlibao, June 5 and 9, 1911.
36
Jiang, “Zhonggao nütongbao,” Minlibao, June 8, 1911.
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
13
Figure 3. “Banner Officer’s Mistreatment of His Son and Daughter-in-Law is Hateful, Parts
1 and 2,” Minli huabao, April 16, 1911.
Figure 4.
Illustration published in Minli huabao, April 14, 1911.
14
LI-LIN TSENG
Figure 5.
Illustration published in Minli huabao, April 25, 1911.
Zheng Zhengqiu also offered some shocking images in order to raise awareness
among his readers concerning the issue of women’s education. On April 25, 1911,
Zheng published a gory scene, “A Virtuous Woman Cuts Off Her Finger to
Defend Her Chastity” (烈女斷指守節 “Lienü duanzhi shoujie”), showing a young
lady severing her ring finger with a cleaver (Figure 5). The blood is visibly dripping
from that finger. Her mother stands behind her, attempting to stop her from further
hurting herself. The text explains that this girl had just dropped out of high school
and was preparing to get married. She was betrothed to a young man from a nearby
village. A plague that struck the area unexpectedly took the life of her fiancé,
however. The girl was overwhelmed by the loss and tried to commit suicide
several times. Fortunately, her family rescued her each time. Still, she had made
up her mind to preserve her chastity for her deceased fiancé; she refused to marry
another man. She cut off her ring finger as a symbolic demonstration of her
determination.
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
15
Here, Zheng presented a terrifying image, shocking the readers into questioning
such an inhumane moral code. Given the fact that in a traditionally arranged marriage this young woman would probably not have met or learned much of her fiancé
before their wedding night, her strong loyalty to him, to the point of taking her own
life, was thus completely irrational—or the result of social conventions. Her deep
belief in such absurd moral conduct essentially came from her family and social education. In other words, she was conditioned by existing cultural values, especially
Confucian morality. She acted in such a melodramatic way in order to meet social
expectations for a woman at that time. Her value as an individual was defined by
her loyalty to her deceased fiancé.
After his term at Minli huabao, in his stage plays and films produced in the 1910s
and 1920s, Zheng constantly expressed his distaste for Confucianism, often by
depicting the plight of women in a patriarchal family. In 1914, Zheng produced a
smash hit, Wicked Family (惡家庭 Ejiating), which exposed the dark sides of the
family system.37 The content of the play drew upon two of his 1913 plays, The Suffering Servant Girl (苦丫頭 Ku yatou) and Resentments of a Nursemaid (奶娘怨
Nainiang yuan). 38 Zheng described the downfall of a ruthless master and his
abusive dominance of various women (his wives, his concubines, his housemaids,
and his nursemaids). In the household, the higher-ranking women (the master’s
wives) also commit domestic crimes, including beating household servant girls to
death.39 Wicked Family thus symbolized an enclosed and oppressive social
system. In the play, when the master is later put in jail, the brutal domestic crimes
are discovered and then stopped. Freed from the control of the patriarchal system,
the abused women finally have an opportunity to pursue new lives. Exposing
what he characterized as its sins, Zheng challenged the patriarchal clan system.
Zheng Zhengqiu’s close friend, Xu Zhuodai (徐卓呆 1880–1958), has provided
an inside story about Zheng’s own personal relationship with his family that may
help us understand Zheng’s thinking in regard to the dark theme of Wicked
Family. Xu’s account confirmed that, on the surface level, the play demonstrated
Zheng’s social critique of Chinese patriarchal families. However, on a personal
level, Zheng’s ongoing interest in the genre of the family drama reflected his ambivalent feelings toward his own family. Zheng was an adopted child.40 He was taken
into a wealthy, extended family because the master’s wife had not given birth to
an heir. However, soon after Zheng entered the extended family, his adoptive
mother unexpectedly gave birth to three boys in a row. Thus, Zheng’s status in
the family was very low; some family members mistreated him.41 According to
Xu, Zheng deeply sensed a change in his mother’s love toward him and believed
that “his mother had two hearts” (娘有兩條心 niang you liang tiao xin), meaning
that for him the loving heart of his mother had been replaced by another, that of
Zhou, “Huai Zhengqiu xiong.”
Ouyang Yuqian, “Tan wenmingxi” (On civilized drama), in Tian Han et al., eds., Zhongguo
huaju yundong wushinian shiliaoji (Historical materials on 50 years of the Chinese spoken drama
movement) (Beijing: Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1958), vol. 1, 72.
39
Ouyang, “Tan wenmingxi,” 72–73.
40
Ouyang, “Tan wenmingxi,” 74–75. See also Xu Banmei, Huaju chuangshiqi huiyilu
(Memoirs of the founding era of spoken drama) (Beijing: Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1957), 66–67.
41
Xu Banmei, Huaju chuangshiqi huiyilu, 66–67.
37
38
16
LI-LIN TSENG
a stepmother. Unsatisfied with the love he received, Zheng would go on to write
about family dramas focusing on stepmothers’ mistreatment of their stepchildren.42
He also identified with the lowest class of women and others who lived in the leastprivileged social stratum.
Inspired by the Minli intellectuals, in 1916 Zheng created stage plays, such as
Mulan congjun (木蘭從軍 Mulan Joins the Army) and Tiexue yuanyang (鐵血鴛
鴦 The Iron-blood Couple), celebrating women’s courage and achievements. The
former adapted the famous poem “Mulan ci” (木蘭詩 Ballad of Mulan), in which
the unmarried young woman Mulan disguises herself as a man and joins the army
in place of her aged father. The latter portrays a female martyr killed during the
Tongmenghui’s Yellow Flower Mound Revolt (黃花崗之役 huanghuagang zhiyi)
in April 1911. In 1918, Zheng created a stage play, Qiu Jin (秋瑾), that portrayed
the national heroine, feminist, and revolutionary who became a martyr in 1907
after the failure of a revolt against the Qing court.
In 1922 when Zheng Zhengqiu concentrated on filmmaking, he created more
sophisticated portraits of Chinese women than those in the illustrated news and in
stage plays. Zheng’s early cinematic works, notably Laborer’s Love (勞工之愛情;
1922), Orphan Rescues Grandfather (孤兒救祖記 Guer jiuzu ji; 1923), and
Young Lovers (小情人 Xiao qingren; 1926), presented various stages of women’s
self-actualization.43 In Laborer’s Love, Zheng focused on women’s love and marriage, describing a doctor’s daughter who bravely pursues her own love with a
fruit vendor. Zheng himself played the part of the doctor. In Orphan Rescues Grandfather, Zheng called attention to the self-fulfillment of widows, among the most
overlooked figures in society at the time. In Zheng’s film, a widow leaves her husband’s family after his death and raises her child alone. The widow’s self-reliance
is emphasized as she finds her own way in life beyond her family’s support and protection. In contrast to the conservative portraits of Chinese women presented in the
Minli huabao, in Zheng’s feature films the heroines gradually become progressive
and independent. Young Lovers concerned women’s remarriage. The film portrays
a young couple who, disregarding class differences, courageously break the boundaries of social status and get married.44 Still, the husband’s upper-class family constantly interferes with their marriage; the lower-class wife is finally forced to leave
her husband. Soon, her family arranges for her to marry an old man. Right after
her second wedding, however, she learns that she is pregnant with her first husband’s
child. As a remarried woman, she is viewed not only as having lost her chastity but
also as being immoral because she carries an illegitimate child into her second marriage. Zheng’s portrayal of the dilemma of the remarried woman was intended to
join in an ongoing critique of deeply rooted Confucian ideals of women’s chastity,
ideals encapsulated in a statement by Song Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi (朱熹
1130–1200): “It is a small matter for a woman to starve to death, but a large
42
Xu Banmei, Huaju chuangshiqi huiyilu, 66–67.
Zheng wrote the screenplays for Laborer’s Love and Orphan Rescues Grandfather, which
were directed by his partner, Zhang Shichuan. Young Lovers was the first film Zheng both wrote
and directed.
44
Mingxing tekan: Xiao qingren (Mingxing special edition: Young lovers), no. 12, 1926.
43
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
17
matter to lose her chastity” (餓死事小, 失節事大 Esi shixiao, shijie shida).45 In a
statement about the film, Zheng expressed his wish to inspire his audience to question the existing social norm in which a twice-married woman was socially unacceptable while a remarried man was viewed with approval.46 Zheng intended to use the
drama to expose the double standards of the Confucian moral order. In a 1926
article about Young Lovers, Zheng also expressed his wish to use this drama to challenge the idea of “mendang hudui” (門當戶對), meaning that a well-matched marriage is judged by the comparable social position and financial status of the two
families.47 Zheng thought that this view showed ignorance of human individuality.
Marriage is an individual choice, rather than an exchange of merchandise between
two families. He asserted that outdated morality must be reevaluated and rectified in
order to stop such tragedies and discrimination against women.
Without a doubt, Zheng used multiple media (illustrations, stage dramas, and
films) to construct a new identity for Chinese women. These works also depicted
particular female temperaments. Zheng created heroines who constituted a new
type of Chinese woman who respected her elders but refused to blindly obey their
orders. In his feature films, modern Chinese women generally appear to be
amiable but self-directed.
MINLI HUABAO AND DRAMA COLUMNS: THE FOUNDATION
CINEMATIC ART
FOR
ZHENG’S
In Minli huabao, Zheng Zhengqiu examined a wide range of topics—including
current politics, traditional customs, and the status of women—that remained recurring themes in his oeuvre. Many local playwrights also sought ideas and inspiration
from social news, just as Zheng did in Minli huabao. They distilled materials and
took lessons from social phenomena, transforming sensational incidents into melodramatic stories. Their social dramas covered such controversial topics as opium
addiction and its victims and the tragedies that result from gambling, as well as
the popular theme of patriotism. Some subjects were unusual, even vulgar, but
they were never fictional. Zheng thought that such dramas offered close-ups of
ordinary people’s daily lives. For Zheng, the principal task of the arts was to illuminate universal themes of human tragedies, giving voice to unprivileged people.48 In
this way, Zheng tried to promote the goal he had hoped the 1911 Revolution would
achieve: to empower the people by raising awareness of social inequities.
Zheng Zhengqiu’s Minli huabao columns on theatrical plays not only strengthened his knowledge of theater but also cultivated in him a taste for stage performances. Between 1910 and 1913, in order to cover various aspects of theater,
Zheng created 11 classifications for his columns and established himself as the
most powerful drama critic in Shanghai in that decade. At the time, stage actors
and opera singers were considered low class; Zheng wanted to use his reviews to
45
Rey Chow, “Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies: An Exercise in Popular Readings,” chap. 2 in
Woman and Chinese Modernity: The Politics of Reading between West and East (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1991), 40, 69.
46
Mingxing tekan: Xiao qingren, no. 12, 1926.
47
Mingxing tekan: Xiao qingren, no. 12, 1926.
48
Li Zhi. “Zheng Zhengqiu,” 207.
18
LI-LIN TSENG
elevate their social status. In his columns Lili’s Commentary on Opera Singers (麗麗
所伶評 Lili suo lingping) and Outstanding Opera Singers and Stories of Their Lives
(優孟雜志 Youmeng zazhi), Zheng not only illuminated the virtuosity of select performers but also provided readers with their biographies. He wrote extensively
about theatrical classics as well as about new repertoires in order to enhance the
appreciation of the readers.49
Zheng analyzed acting styles in traditional Beijing opera as well as in “civilized
drama” (文明戲 wenmingxi), a type of new stage drama whose name followed the
fashion of calling new things “civilized”; wenmingxi was also known as “new
theater” (新劇 xinju).50 In his “On Civilized Drama” (談文明戲 “Tan wenmingxi”),
Zheng’s contemporary, the playwright Ouyang Yuqian (歐陽予倩 1889–1962), indicated that this new genre was an early form of Western-style theater popular in China
between 1907 and 1924, the precursor of “spoken drama” (話劇 huaju).51 The performers of this type of new drama appropriated traditional operatic forms, mixing speech
with singing and mime. In Minlibao, Zheng frequently introduced famed wenmingxi
actors and their plays, highlighting sociopolitical messages that appeared in their
dramas. Around 1911, many wenmingxi actors were politically active members of
the Tongmenghui and famous for their improvisational propaganda in the form of
speeches advocating democracy. Zheng’s work as a drama critic provided him the
opportunity to connect to the Shanghai theater world. Later in the mid-1910s,
Zheng himself became a renowned wenmingxi actor and director.
Among Zheng’s drama reviews, his critique of the wenmingxi play Napoleon (拿
破崙 Napolun) is particularly interesting. From April 23 to April 29, 1911, when the
work was performed in Shanghai at the New Stage Theater, Zheng expounded in
print on the themes of the French Revolution as well as on this novel artistic production.52 Napoleon was an adapted translation of a Western drama, rewritten
by a Shanghai dramatist, Xi Qiu (惜秋 dates unknown), in 1904.53 In his reviews,
49
In addition to his columns on actors’ arts and lives, Zheng created three others—Jubu
xinwen (News of opera singers), Liyuan xinwen (News from the world of opera) and Haishang
yiyuan shenjia yilanbiao (A ranking of Shanghai actors by price per engagement)—to keep
readers informed about various aspects of the world of drama. Zheng also created columns for
his discussion of current stage productions: Lili suo xijutan (Lili’s jottings about drama), Lili suo
gùqǔji (Lili’s review of opera), Lili suo guanjuji (Lili’s review of drama), Lili suoji suoji (Lili’s
notes), and Fenmo congtan (On opera), to classify his reviews on traditional Beijing opera and wenmingxi (civilized drama).
50
Ouyang, “Tan wenmingxi,” 49. Wenmingxi also included shizhuang xinxi (modern
costume drama) in which plays of contemporary stories were performed by actors from traditional
theaters, but dressed in modern costumes.
51
Ouyang, “Tan wenmingxi,” 49–50. As early as 1907, the Chinese student group Spring
Willow Society (Chunliu she) staged an adaptation of American writer Harriet Beecher Stowe’s
antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) in Tokyo, which officially inaugurated the era of
spoken drama. The society was a Chinese student drama society established by Li Xishuang, Lu
Jingnuo, and Ouyang Yuqian. In 1907, Li Xishuang adapted Alexandre Dumas’s play Camille
to produce his first spoken drama. For further information on the early history of Chinese
spoken drama, see Xu’s huaju chuangshiqi huiyilu or Tian Benxiang, ed., Zhongguo huaju
(Chinese spoken drama) (Beijing: Wenhua yishu chubanshe, 1997).
52
See Minlibao, April 24–29, 1911.
53
Iizuka Yung, “Wenmingxi ‘Napolun’ jiqi xiangguan xiju zuopin” (The civilized drama
“Napoleon” and related works), Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan yuanbao (Reports of the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences), June 30, 2004.
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
19
Zheng was especially concerned about the artistic production of the hybrid form of
the play, including the localization of the Western plot, the setting, and its meanings.
He was interested in how the Chinese theater borrowed and reinvented Western
drama and incorporated indigenous idioms into its performance. Specifically, he
asked how the directors used local dialects and idioms to disseminate the story
about the French Revolution. Zheng carefully analyzed the narrative mode of Napoleon and how it was assimilated into the fabric of local worldviews. Commenting
exclusively on the then current version of the play, he observed that the story was
structured and focused on the tragic romance between Napoleon and Josephine.
Zheng noted that the play effectively presented the theme of the French Revolution
through a simple love story by focusing on the tragedy between Napoleon and his
wife. The French Revolution, indeed, forced the couple to separate from each
other. Zheng emphasized Napoleon’s ambivalence about his love for his family
and his passion for the great revolution.54 Finally, Zheng posed a critical question
for his readers: Could an individual or a family survive without the protection of
the nation? Zheng’s drama reviews forced readers to ponder the individual’s
relationship to the nation, echoing the central concern of Minlibao.
In addition to examining the theme and the narrative mode of Napoleon, Zheng
observed the actors’ characterizations of their roles. In his reviews, he scrutinized
their speeches, their elocution, and their monologues and dialogue delivered in controlled and yet emotional voices and intonation. He also analyzed the lead actors’
physical actions and sentimental style of acting (their facial expressions, hand gesticulations, and body movements), the theatricality of which formed the foundation
of his theatrical performances in the two decades that followed.55 Zheng considered
such dramatic representations as bringing to life the human spirit and expressing it
in an artistic form.
Zheng admired Napoleon above all for awakening each individual viewer’s consciousness of history, nation, society, and people. His passion for the drama and its
theatrical techniques continued through the following decade. After he left Minlibao
to concentrate on theater, Zheng presented his own version of Napoleon for The
People’s Voice Drama Society (民鳴劇社 Minming jushe) on January 9, 1916, and
he invited a group of noted actors to be part of the production, including Zhang
Xiaotian (張嘯天 dates unknown), Li Beishi (李悲世 dates unknown), Zhong
Xiaowu (鐘笑吾 dates unknown), Wang Wukong (王無恐 dates unknown), Wang
Youyou (汪優游 1888–1937), Cha Tianying (查天影 dates unknown), Ling Lianying (凌怜影 dates unknown), and Xu Banmei (徐半梅 1880–1961).56 In September
of that year, the drama society restaged the play in response to the audience’s
enthusiasm.
Inspired by Napoleon, Zheng also launched his first project to sinicize Western
plays. Based on translations by Lin Shu (林紓 1852–1924) and Wei Yi (魏易
1880–1930), in the 1910s Zheng adapted many of Shakespeare’s plays (e.g., The
Merchant of Venice, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear) and transformed
54
Minlibao, April 24–29, 1911.
Zheng was especially interested in the acting style of Qi Zhandeng (dates unknown) and
Xiao Liansheng (dates unknown).
56
Shenbao, January 9, 1916. Zheng’s friend Zhang Shichuan established the drama society in
1913.
55
20
LI-LIN TSENG
them into wenmingxi.57 In a 2005 article, Wang Jiankai (王建開) recognized
Zheng’s pioneering work on the sinicization of Shakespeare’s plays in the
1910s.58 Wang pointed out that Zheng usually preserved the storylines of Shakespeare’s plays while he skillfully situated the characters in Chinese settings, dressing
them in Chinese costumes and having them live in China and speak Chinese dialects.
In so doing, Zheng was participating in a broader intellectual trend. As Alexander
C. Y. Huang noted in Chinese Shakespeares, in the early twentieth century most
Chinese intellectuals believed “that Shakespeare was a universal genius who could
provide an alternative mode of thinking and ethics for Chinese in search of a
modern national identity.”59 Zheng also empowered his protagonists to comment
on Chinese politics and social injustice. Wang’s study confirmed that Zheng
intended to use drama to rally his audience, reform society, and advance the
nation. However, Zheng was not the only playwright who was interested in such
cross-cultural translations, interpretations, and appropriations.
A COUPLE IN TROUBLE: ELECTRIFYING STAGED PICTURES
After he left his Minli position, in 1913 Zheng turned his attention to film and
theater. Together with his friend Zhang Shichuan, Zheng created China’s first
feature film, A Couple in Trouble (4 reels, approximately 60 minutes).60 Lacking
formal training, Zheng drew primarily upon his knowledge of the graphic arts
and Chinese theater to produce the movie. Through his former position at Minlibao,
Zheng had befriended various members of Shanghai drama circles, including theater
managers, producers, playwrights, stage actors, and opera singers.61 He invited 16
stage actors to play key roles in the film and Minli huabao illustrator Qian Binghe to
be the set and art designer. This work served as a testing ground for Zheng to transform stage drama into cinema.
In A Couple in Trouble, Zheng continued the didactic approach to social reform
he had developed while at Minlibao, but this time he utilized cinema. Zheng wrote
the script for this film, and Zhang directed the filming. In the screenplay, Zheng
described a provincial custom from his hometown in Chaozhou, Guangdong, to
satirize the absurdity of the traditionally arranged marriage, in which the bride
and the groom did not meet each other until their wedding night in their bridal
chamber. The matchmaker, supposedly only the go-between for families with marriageable young people, in reality chose spouses for them. Zheng wrote the script
57
Alexander C. Y. Huang, Chinese Shakespeares: Two Centuries of Cultural Exchange
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 70.
58
Wang Jiankai, “Yishu yu xuanchuan: Sha ju yi jie yu 20 shiji qianban zhongguo shehui
jincheng” (Art and propaganda: the translation and introduction of Shakespearean drama and
social progress in China in the first half of the twentieth century), Chung-Wai Literary Monthly
33, no. 11 (April 2005), 42.
59
Alexander C. Y. Huang, Chinese Shakespeares, 54.
60
Liu Siping, Zhang Shichuan congyingshi (Zhang Shichuan in filmmaking: a history)
(Beijing: Zhongguo dianying chubanshe, 2000), 12. Shenbao, September 4, 1913. See also Xia
Yan, Xia Yan tan dianying (Xia Yan on film), ed. Lin Man and Li Ziyun (Beijing: Zhongguo dianying chubanshe, 1993), 119.
61
Zheng Zhengqiu, “Zhang Shichuan xiaozhuan” (A little biography of Zhang Shichuan),
Mingxing tekan (Mingxing special edition), no. 2, June 5, 1925, 2.
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
21
Figure 6. Photo of film shooting in the studio of the Asia Shadowplay Company (Yaxiya
yingxi gongsi), 1913.
to ridicule Chinese customs and advocate for marital autonomy. He was the first
Chinese filmmaker to recognize the cultural power of drama and use it to shape
society.
Although no prints of A Couple in Trouble have survived, many early Chinese
filmmakers wrote about it. In “Since I Began Directing” (自我導演以來 “Ziwo
daoyan yilai”), Zheng’s business partner, Zhang Shichuan, detailed the embryonic
stages of Chinese filmmaking. Zhang admitted that neither he nor Zheng knew
much about film production and directing; they looked to stage drama for inspiration. The term “director” (導演 daoyan) was newly invented, but the meaning
of the title had not been clearly defined.62 In their intuitive way of making the
film, Zhang and Zheng actually shared the role of director, with Zhang working
as cameraman and Zheng guiding the stage actors. The directing task shared by
the two friends was captured by a 1913 still taken at the studio of the Asia Shadowplay Company (亞细亞影戲公司 Yaxiya yingxi gongsi), which produced A Couple
in Trouble (Figure 6). In the photo, Zhang manipulates the camera, while Zheng
instructs several stage actors. According to Zhang’s account, due to his lack of
experience and knowledge of cinematography, he always positioned his camera at
a fixed angle and shot the scene from a long distance, while Zheng arranged the
actors to perform before the stationary camera.63 The acting usually continued
for a long period of time until the camera ran out of film. Zhang then immediately
reloaded a 200-foot reel so that the whole crew could continue the shoot.64 Zhang’s
description points out the two basic cinematic techniques, the full shot and the long
take, which were essential in making the film.
The previous analyses lead to at least two significant points about A Couple in
Trouble. First, the movie required experienced stage actors to improvise on the
spot. Due to the lack of a clear shooting schedule at the time, the performers’
62
Zhang Shichuan, “Ziwo daoyan yilai,” (Since I began directing), Mingxing banyuekan
(Mingxing bimonthly) 1, no. 3 (May 16, 1935), 12.
63
Zhang, “Ziwo daoyan yilai,” 12.
64
Zhang, “Ziwo daoyan yilai,” 12.
22
LI-LIN TSENG
improvised actions, hand gestures, and body movements were essential to create
drama.65 Second, the narrative was fundamentally produced in full shots and
long takes. Because the editing and cutting of the film remained minimal, the
stage actors’ improvisations were recorded in uninterrupted sessions. Thus, in this
silent film, each shot became a sort of “living picture,” a visual spectacle that
mostly showed motions and movements on the screen during an exceptionally protracted time. This work must have been experienced as a “photographed drama” or
“staged picture.”
Interestingly, Zheng’s directing task corresponds to the artistic production of
mise-en-scène, a term whose literal meaning in French is “what is put into the
scene.”66 According to Zhang Shichuan’s account, Zheng’s task was to arrange
the actors and scenery on a stage for a theatrical production. He organized the
sets, the lighting, and the positions of actors, as well as their wardrobes and
makeup. In other words, Zheng created the cinematic image, while his partner
Zhang concentrated on camera positions, camera movements, and editing.
Zheng’s directing drew upon much of his professional experience at Minlibao. As
editor of the illustrated section, Zheng oversaw the design of the entire page. He
laid out the visual images and descriptive captions. He also chose and wrote
about featured topics of the day. All of these tasks contributed to the construction
of the illustrated news. Zheng made use of the artistic strategies he had developed
while overseeing the Minli illustrated pages for the theatrical production of
mise-en-scène in his films: his cinematic form was an application of graphic arts
to celluloid. Just as he did for the theater, Zheng turned to his newspaper layouts
as models for the development of his cinematic staging and direction. Moreover,
by incorporating his understanding of graphic arts and stage drama into his
cinema, Zheng created his unique pictorial style of mise-en-scène. For example, in
Twin Sisters (1933), Zheng favored lingering long takes in which some individual
shots lasted over two and a half minutes, far lengthier than those in the works of
his contemporaries. In contrast, in Song of the Fisherman (漁光曲 Yuguangqu;
1934), filmmaker Cai Chusheng utilized a Russian style of montage editing
renowned for its fast tempo.
TOWARD A UNIQUE STYLE: FROM GRAPHIC ARTS
CELLULOID
TO
STAGE DRAMA TO
A Couple in Trouble received a lukewarm response from the public in 1913; Zheng
Zhengqiu turned back to stage drama. In 1922, though, he started to concentrate on
filmmaking again and invited Minli huabao illustrators to join his crew.
As stated previously, at Minli huabao, Zheng primarily worked with three illustrators, Wang Qiyun, Qian Binghe, and Zhang Yuguang. These graphic artists
were known for their dramatic pictures in the genres of illustrated news and illustrated fiction. They also created sketches of opera actors performing on stage as
well as caricatures of political figures. Pointing to the close ties linking the graphic
65
Zheng Jinli, Juese de dansheng (The birth of characters) (Beijing: Zhongguo dianying chubanshe, 2001), 5.
66
Timothy Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing about Film, 2nd ed. (New York: HarperCollinsCollege, 1994), 44.
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
Figure 7.
23
A still from The King of Comedy Visits Shanghai (1922).
arts with drama and a changing society, the famed opera singer Mei Lanfang (梅蘭
芳 1894–1961), taking note of these kinds of illustrations, described them as
“Republican new drama” (共和新劇 gonghe xinju) and “living social drama” (社
會活劇 shehui huoju).67 Later, when Zheng focused on filmmaking and stage
plays, Qian Binghe and Zhang Yuguang were key members of his production
crew. As mentioned previously, Qian participated in the production crew of A
Couple in Trouble. In 1915, Zheng invited Zhang Yuguang to be the stage designer
for many plays and films either directed or written by Zheng.68 In 1928, Zhang
Yuguang joined Zheng’s Mingxing Film Company, working as an art director and
producing many film dramas, notably Burning the Red Lotus Temple, 1 (火燒紅
蓮寺, 1), The Heroine Rescues the Madam (俠女救夫人 Xianü jiu furen; 1928),
Divorce (離婚 Lihun; 1928), and Lady Windermere’s Fan (少奶奶的扇子 Shaonainai de shanzi; 1928). Zheng often employed these graphic artists to carry out his
ideas of drama in films and plays; the design of his cinematic space resembled
many of the layouts of illustrations and stage settings. Moreover, due to his
failing health, Zheng was physically weak, incapable of extended periods of
moving around to shoot scenes outdoors. Consequently, most of Zheng’s films
were completed in studios where, in accord with his experience in Beijing opera,
set design was minimal. The following comparisons between film stills taken from
Zheng’s movies and Minli huabao illustrations further confirm this relationship
between graphic arts, stage drama, and early Chinese cinema.
A still from an early Chinese film, The King of Comedy Visits Shanghai (滑稽大王
游滬記 Huajidawang you huji), demonstrates this connection between Zheng’s film
and graphic arts (Figure 7). The comedy was one of the very first movies that Zheng
67
Mei Lanfang, “Mantan xiquhua” (A casual comment on theatrical play painting), in Mei
Lanfang wenji (Anthology of Mei Lanfang) (Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1962).
68
From 1909 to 1911, Zhang Yuguang worked as an illustrator for several revolutionary
newspapers.
24
LI-LIN TSENG
Figure 8.
A bed used as a visual motif to organize a scene, Minli huabao, April 10, 1911.
and Zhang Shichuan made in 1922 when they cofounded the Mingxing Film
Company and resumed their partnership after the failure of A Couple in Trouble.
In the still, Zheng, dressed in a traditional costume, plays a Chinese gentleman
who is showing some antiques in a cabinet to the king of comedy, Charlie
Chaplin (1889–1977). A British amateur actor, Richard Bell, plays the role of
Chaplin. A traditional Chinese bed strangely sits in the background defining the
interior space. It is unclear whether the characters are standing in a living room
or a bedroom. Nevertheless, this use of a bed as a visual motif to organize the
scene resembles some of the compositional structures of Minli huabao illustrations.
In one such illustration (Figure 8), three characters either sit or talk next to a traditional bed similar to the above-mentioned still. This visual motif became an artistic
trait in both Minli huabao and early Chinese cinema. The concise design of the
set also recalls that of a stage drama.
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
Figure 9.
25
A still from Zheng’s classic film Twin Sisters (1934).
Also, in his feature films, Zheng often used a traditional round table as a focal
point in order to organize interior scenes. This arrangement indeed echoed some
graphic work seen in Minli huabao. In his noted film Twin Sisters Zheng created
a famous indoor scene in which a mother and two sisters carry on an intense
conversation while seated at a big round table (Figure 9). The older twin, on
the left, points her index finger across the table to condemn the younger twin,
who bows her head guiltily. Here, Zheng used the table both as the basis for
tying the image together and as a buffer zone to reduce the tension among the
family members. The composition of the still corresponds to that of some
Minli drawings in which the illustrators used the Chinese round table as a
visual motif to generate dynamism for indoor activities. The image of the traditional table repeatedly appears in scenes of interior events such as a chess competition or a drinking party (Figure 10 and 11). Zheng’s use of a traditional
round table to construct a scene also resembled typical design strategies in
Chinese theater, known as “one table and two chairs” (一桌兩椅 yizhuo
liangyi). In Beijing opera, the stage design is usually minimal and symbolic,
rather than realistic.69
The influence of graphic arts and theater on Zheng’s cinematic works also appears
in a still taken from his short film, Story of Hu Ying (胡瑛的故事; 1934). In the
photo, Zheng situated the heroine, played by Hu Die, within a corner of a garden
(Figure 10, top). The design of the artificial landscape recalls a Minli huabao illustration by Qian Binghe (Figure 10, bottom). Although Qian did not participate in
making this film, this illustration looks very much like a blueprint for creating the
theatrical garden.
Overall, due to his long-term relationships and close work with many graphic
artists and stage set designers, Zheng created a mise-en-scène or cinematic space
69
Lou Zheng, Zhongguo jingju: ershi jiang (Chinese Beijing opera: 20 lectures) (Guangxi
shifan daxue chubanshe, 2004), 39, 167, 195.
26
LI-LIN TSENG
Figure 10.
1911.
Illustrations published in Minli huabao, April 30 (top) and May 4 (bottom),
that truly reflected his great knowledge of and interest in graphic arts and stage
drama; these became rich resources for Zheng to use to improve his feature films
and to create his unique style of cinema.70
70
Note that Zheng established his own illustrated newspaper, Tuhua jubao (Illustrated drama
newspaper), between 1912 and 1917, which was a professional publication that aimed to research,
document, and reform Chinese dramas. Zheng appointed Qian Binghe to be the editor-in-chief of
the newspaper.
ELECTRIFYING ILLUSTRATED NEWS
27
Figure 11. A still from the 1934 short film Story of Hu Ying (top) and an illustration published in Minli huabao, October 28, 1911 (bottom).
CONCLUSION
In the early twentieth century when film was still a novel technology, Zheng, like
most of his Shanghai contemporaries, identified cinema with drama.71 He reasoned
that feature film could serve as a powerful tool to promote sociopolitical reforms
and change the way that Chinese people thought. As demonstrated in his oeuvre,
Zheng was dedicated to changing the status of Chinese women, improving their
Zhong Dafang, “Lun yingxi” (On shadow play), in Ding Yaping, ed., Bainian Zhongguo
dianying lilun wenxuan (Anthology of the centennial Chinese film theory) (Beijing: wenhua
yishu chubanshe, 2002), 158.
71
28
LI-LIN TSENG
education, and expanding their rights. Zheng expressed his goals in the essay “What
I Expect from the Audience” (我所希望于觀眾者 “Wosuo xiwang yu guanzhongzhe”), as follows:
On drama: the greatest must possess the ability to create life; the second best
must have the intention to reform society; the least must have the characteristic of criticizing society, in other words, of finding fault in an aspect of
human affairs and then making the viewer realize the error of his ways.
Thus, a drama must have a doctrine. A drama without a doctrine is of no
immediate need in a China whose art is, at present, still in its infancy.
論戲劇之最高者, 必須含有創造人生之能力, 其次亦須含有改正社會之意義,
其最小限度,亦當含有批評社會之性質,易言之,即指摘人事中之一部分,而使
觀者覺悟其事之錯誤焉,故戲劇必須有主義,無主義之戲劇,尚非目前藝術幼
稚之中國所需亟也。72
Greatly inspired by the Minli intellectuals and revolutionaries, Zheng produced
dramas and films in order to underscore his critique of the social and political dilemmas of his time. In line with many of his Minli huabao colleagues, Zheng thought
that, fundamentally, the crisis of China lay in part in the continuing influence of
Confucian values and the corruption of the government.
The dreadful lives of women were an embodiment of this deficient, archaic morality. After centuries of autocratic rule, Confucian tradition remained embedded in
social norms—ingrained in the people’s minds and practiced in their daily lives—
that formed the foundation of Chinese morality. Zheng used various artistic forms,
especially graphic arts, plays, and films, as effective methods with which to provoke
his audience and to awaken society from the tyranny of Confucian mores. Ultimately,
Zheng intended his sensational style of drama to lead to broad social and cultural
reforms, as he believed that modern China had to break from the past and from its
morality in order to be reconstructed and redeemed. For Zheng, art had never been
for art’s sake alone; instead, art was always in the service of society.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs
(MCAA) and the New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS). I would like to thank
Carol Ehrhardt, the anonymous readers for Twentieth-Century China, and Kristin Stapleton
for their useful comments and suggestions.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTOR
Li-Lin Tseng received her doctorate in art history from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. She is associate professor in the art department at Pittsburg State University in
Kansas.
Correspondence to: Li-Lin Tseng. Email: [email protected]
72
Zheng Zhengqiu, “Wosuo xiwang yu guanzhongzhe” (What I expect from the audience),
Mingxing tekan (Mingxing special edition), no. 3, July 27, 1925, 1.